According to the fact that a large number of old irrigation districts in China still cannot equipped with fixed water flow metering facilities at present, this paper suggests the storage capacity method to measure the water intake in the irrigation area. The differences of water volume between the storage capacity method and the trapezoid thin-plate weir method as well as the electromagnetic flowmeter method were compared in the U-type anti-seepage canal, rectangular-type anti-seepage canal, trapezoid-type anti-seepage canal and trapezoidal soil canal. The results showed that there was no significant difference in water volume in the storage capacity method compared with the other two methods, and the water volume of the pumping stations measured by the U-type anti-seepage canals, rectangular-type anti-seepage canals, trapezoid-type anti-seepage canals and trapezoidal soil canals were 0.146 to 0.164m3·s-1, 0.105 to 0.121m3·s-1, 0.124 to 0.142m3·s-1 and 0.083 to 0.101m3·s-1, respectively. And the deviation were -2.77% ~ -2.79%, 0.49% ~ -0.72%, -3.90% ~ -2.46% and -5.42% ~ -6.31%, respectively, and the relative deviation were all lower than that of the field test, which was 0.19% ~ 1.48%.As a water volume measurement technology, the storage capacity method is convenient and reliable and may be used in irrigation area widely.